One of the Nation’s Leading Female Environmental Advocates: “A Force of Nature”

Photo courtesy Rainforest Action Network

Rebecca Tarbotton, Executive Director of the environmental organization Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a lifelong human rights activist and one of the nation’s most prominent female environmental leaders, died on December 26 on a beach in Mexico while vacationing with her husband and friends. The coroner ruled cause of death as asphyxiation from water she breathed in while swimming. She was 39 years old.

A self-proclaimed “pragmatic idealist,” Rebecca Tarbotton (“Becky” to friends and family) was admired by environmentalists and climate change activists for her visionary work protecting forests, pushing the nation to transition to a clean… more